Our plane didn't leave until 4:30 PM, so we got to spend most of the day at CoCo View. We stayed in the room until 11, then sat in the clubhouse until it was time to leave at 1PM. We got to watch the first group of new arrivals come in and fill out their paperwork, and think "Hey that was us a week ago!"
The airport was having problems printing out boarding passes, so it was a HUGE bonus that CoCo View took care of that for us. And being in First Class saved us from having to wait in an enormous line.
The flights were very nice and customs and immigration at Houston was very quick. Houston is a nice airport, new and logical. Flying First Class definitely has extra benefits that you don't think of right away: separate check-in avoiding long lines, as well as being first off the plane to go through immigration. Continental also tagged our bags so they were first off the plane. Very nice!
We spent the night at the Doubletree at IAH. Very nice hotel--very friendly staff and they helped print our boarding passes when the remote printing didn't work. I would definitely stay there again. We got a free buffet breakfast in the morning too.
I don't like the Denver airport as much. It is a LLLOOOONNGGGG walk from one end of the terminal to the other. Not a place to have a short connection!
It's good to be home though!
FINAL IMPRESSIONS
We had a great time on this trip. Liked CoCo View better than Anthony's Key. Food wasn't as good, but everything else was better, especially the ease of the diving.
Best thing topside: CoCo View. We definitely hope to come back here. It would be a great place to come for a group trip. We enjoyed the island tour, but probably wouldn't do it again.
Best dive: Probably Calvin's Crack. We had the best visibility of the week on this dive, the topography was very cool, and I lost count of how many seahorses we saw (at least six).
Worst thing: The sandfleas/mosquitos/no see ums were definitely better than last time. I found a new insect repellant (Picardin) that we plan on using from now on. We had 15% but it also comes in a 20%. It worked great, smelled pretty good, and didn't leave a nasty, disgusting film all over you like DEET. Plus it doesn't melt plastic either.
